e-Book Care and Protocol.

[sceadugenga]

Firstly, when starting a sentence with e-Book is it e-Book or E-Book?

What do you do with the e-Book when you've finished reading? Decades of dropping books on the carpet by the chair is going to have to cease, I can see that. The prospect of my lady friend putting her dainty foot on $300 worth of iRiver doesn't bear thinking about.

I hear there are people who like to eat and read at the same time.
I suspect some sort of quasi-religious dietary rules may have to come into force here. The hand that dips the chips into the sauce will never turn an electronic page.

Wet area usage is another situation fraught with danger, many of us have dropped a book in the bath.

Will certain situations always demand hard copy books?

Thoughts and suggestions please.

[carld]

I think E-Book is correct, but any of them is okay.

My Kindle goes back to its customary position on top out my computer whenever I'm not reading it. That way I know where it's and that's where the charger is plugged in anyway.

I have eaten while reading on my Kindle, and splattered taco sauce all over the keyboard. It cleaned off easy enough but seemed to fade the white paint a little. I try not to do that any more.

[mrscoach]

I'm not getting into the whole ebook, eBook, e-book, etc. debate. Just do what you think best.

IF you must eat messily while reading, then I suggest the use of either the cheap solution of a gallon ziploc type food bag. Or you can invest in a sack just for that. I don't remember the name of it, but it's like what you take to the beach to put valuables and even cameras in. I believe there are some made just for electronic reading devices.

The same materials can be used in the bath. I use a gallon zipper bag and love it (when I get a chance to actually RELAX in the bath).

The use of these coverings make readers even better in these situations, since there is now no chance of getting anything on the pages. I always ended up with cheeto dust on pages of pbooks.

edited to add: Please don't put your reader on the floor, unless it is under a table or something, where there is zero chance of getting stepped on.

[hgwlackey]

I put my ereader on a stand when I read'n'eat eat use a knuckle to "turn pages"--no muss, no fuss.

A ziplock bag, as suggested, protects against accidents in the bath or spa.

I'd use "e-book" to start a sentence, but more important than which you choose is that once you've chosen you're consistent about it.

[GraceKrispy]

I eat while reading, just use a knuckle to turn pages and use the hand not holding to read to hold the food I make sure i put it on a table or somewhere else safe, make sure my kids do not sit on it, don't bathe (lol... I shower), have taken it to the beach in a ziploc. I use my ereader (I use that phrasing, ebook to me is the reading material, ereader is the device with which to read an ebook) for anything I'd want to read.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I take all my e-books out once a month to air for a while then carefully wash them with soap and water, rices, and air dry. I just let the reader get dirty.

All seriousness aside, at home, my reader resides in my purse. When eating out and no one is with me to provide scintillating conversation, I do not hesitate to read from it while eating. I'm just careful (I tend to avoid messy foods anyway).

I only take showers so a reader there just doesn't happen.

[graycyn]

I read while eating. It's not a problem. I'm so used to carefully keeping one hand clean for paper books, it's NO biggie to keep a single finger clean to swipe turn pages. Much, MUCH easier in fact! I can swipe with just about any finger...

A BookGem stand is helpful as well.

[Viseguy]

Originally Posted by sceadugenga

Firstly, when starting a sentence with e-Book is it e-Book or E-Book?

Neither, I'd say. My vote is for "E-book" -- capitalize the first letter, just as you would with any other word.

The food issue will be a live one for me when I get my Kindle as I like to read while drinking coffee and eating what passes for breakfast on the morning commute. My Plan A is to be weally weally careful and try not to drop the e-reader while sipping coffee and eating the roll.

Plan B is to bookmark this thread.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by sceadugenga

Firstly, when starting a sentence with e-Book is it e-Book or E-Book?

What do you do with the e-Book when you've finished reading? Decades of dropping books on the carpet by the chair is going to have to cease, I can see that. The prospect of my lady friend putting her dainty foot on $300 worth of iRiver doesn't bear thinking about.

I hear there are people who like to eat and read at the same time.
I suspect some sort of quasi-religious dietary rules may have to come into force here. The hand that dips the chips into the sauce will never turn an electronic page.

Wet area usage is another situation fraught with danger, many of us have dropped a book in the bath.

Will certain situations always demand hard copy books?

Thoughts and suggestions please.

I prefer not to use a capital letter in the middle of a word, I use e-book.


And I will never drop a book on the carpet by the chair. I have always preferred to put them on the table at least, or back where it belongs. The same with my readers. In bed, I often leave my reader(s) underneath my pillow, on the room behind the bed, on my nightstand or on the floor (usually, that's the case when they fall down from the nightstand, as was the case last night).

I will eat and read at the same time, handeling the device with the left hand, while I eat with the right. One huge positive point on my Mini, the availability of paging buttons on three sides of the device.

I've never dropped my reader in the tub. Just dry your hands before picking it up and don't fall asleep. But the same goes for paper books, they usually can't stand moisture neither....

For me, there are absolutely no situations that demand paper books. In the may years since I've been reading electronically, I've never come across a situation where a paper book would have been more practical than an electronic book.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Viseguy

Neither, I'd say. My vote is for "E-book" -- capitalize the first letter, just as you would with any other word.

Any other word?

Your sentence even denies what you're saying.

If you capitalize the first letter, just as you would with any other word, your sentence should have been written thus:

Neither, I'd Say. My Vote Is For "E-book" -- Capitalize The First Letter, Just As You Would With Any Other Word.

I have learned that only names are capitalized... And an e-book isn't a name, but an object. True, in some languages objects are capitalized (such as French and German) but English isn't one of those.

[Ben Thornton]

The is no "right answer" with language, only accepted usage - and ebooks are too new to qualify, I'd say. Google shows >70m hits for ebook, and >700m hits for e-book, so I guess most people are still putting the hyphen in there. But forms tend to simplify as usage goes up, so I'd predict that ebook will become the accepted form eventually, unless we simply say "book". I say "album" and mean a CD, where I used to mean an LP, and I will eventually mean a download.

[Ea]

With regards eating.... another alternative is to use cutlery to eat with instead of your fingers

[queentess]

Originally Posted by sceadugenga

Firstly, when starting a sentence with e-Book is it e-Book or E-Book?

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I have learned that only names are capitalized... And an e-book isn't a name, but an object. True, in some languages objects are capitalized (such as French and German) but English isn't one of those.

Reading Comprehension 101

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Ea

With regards eating.... another alternative is to use cutlery to eat with instead of your fingers

Have you eaten a sandwich with cutlery lately? A taco? Ribs (ok, that one is possible but difficult; depends on how tender they are)? Chips and dip? I prefer to avoid eating with my fingers but sometimes it's unavoidable. Try buttering bread without touching it.

[Ben Thornton]

Don't any of you have a nose? This is one of the advantages of having a touch screen; I can "turn the page" with no hands!